Ta Da!!!

I have a couple of reveals for you today.

First is the "Shindig Quilt" for this year. 

Just a reminder that three of us have collaborated for several years to make a quilt to donate to the Folk Heritage Committee to use for fundraising during the summer outdoor traditional music and dance series known as "Shindig on the Green." This free series takes place most Saturday evenings during the summer right in Asheville's downtown Pack Place Park on the Bascom LaMar Lunsford Stage. We call our collaboration "Mountain Jam Circle," and I'm proud to be one of the members of this group supporting this wonderful local event series. 

This year's quilt features a design by our master machine quilter, Cheryl, and she actually did the bulk of the "work" on this quilt, since she created the center Carolina Lily medallion and then Alice and I put together the remaining blocks in four large sections that Cheryl put together to frame the lily.

I should have measured it so I could give you precise dimensions, but it is about a twin size quilt.

The three of us made a shopping excursion to select fabric and then last week Alice and I machine and hand sewed on the binding at our quilt retreat.

Here's a closer view of the medallion.

 And a couple of close ups to show you some of Cheryl's wonderful custom quilting.

We try to come up with a quilt that will show well from the stage and it's nice, too, when we can incorporate something traditional like the "Carolina Lily" motif which reflects the local area.

Anyone who buys a raffle ticket during the season has a chance to win this and the proceeds of the raffle help the FHC to pay for the expenses of setting up the sound system, renting porta-potties, and all the other costs that allow this to remain a popular free summer activity for locals and tourists.

I think this looks pretty good draped over my living room sofa, but alas, I can't keep it.

This final shot just shows our label, the coordinating backing fabric, and the striped binding that mimics the shading in the border poppies.

The second reveal is my annual submission the Quilt Alliance contest. Proceeds of this competition help support the QA mission of promoting, preserving and documenting quilts. This year's theme is "Voices."

I decided to make my 16 inch square quilt reflect the memories that speak to all of us when we come across ephemera we've saved... things like newspaper clippings, old photos, things in familiar handwriting, ticket stubs, journal entries, memorial cards, postcards, and even a grandmother's handkerchief.

It's machine quilted and embellished with rick-rack, yo-yos, buttons and inkjet printed ephemera.

Though the items were from my personal collection, I tried to choose things that were generic enough to "speak" to everyone who reminisces about people and events that brought joy to their lives.

And, of course, all quilts need to be labeled.